Protection of Minority Communities in Kosovo: Legally Ahead of European Standards—Practically Still a Long Way to Go

Abstract

In this article, the author analyzes the legislative framework for the protection of minority communities in Kosovo, as it has developed from the periods before and after the declaration of independence, and its implementation in practice. She focuses in her study on four major issues: non-discrimination, education for ing issues of decentralization. The author comes to the following conclusions.in line or even way ahead of the standards applied in other European countries. But implementation has been lacking so far. Second, on the institutional side, the author draws attention to the multitude of national (and international) actors dealing with minority issues, risking thereby an uncoordinated approach to minority issues and a failure to mainstream such matters. And, third, the reluctance of the Serb community to cooperate with the Kosovar authorities

Bureaucratic Representation and Ethnic Bureaucratic Drift

“…Frequent reports about high levels of corruption and politicization in Kosovo's civil service (Korenica, Doli, & Rogova, 2011) suggest additional reasons why street-level bureaucrats did not prioritize the implementation of minority policy. Others point to a lack of political (not bureaucratic) will within the PISG (Lantschner, 2008) or to a fragmented approach by the international community with several organizations under UNMIK's roof (Baldwin, 2006;Bieber, 2003;Visoka & Bolton, 2011).…”

“…9 There are three important minority policies: the Anti-Discrimination Law (ADL), the Law on the Use of Languages (LUL) and the Fair-Share Financing Policy (FSF). These policies have already received academic attention (e.g., Baldwin, 2006;Bieber, 2003;Lantschner, 2008), and their implementation was closely monitored by the various nongovernmental and international organizations quoted later in this article. The following examples therefore summarize the literature's overriding message-that "minorities are being offered at best a series of paper rights" (Baldwin, 2006, p. 25) and "that the legislative framework is very advanced but that practical implementation lags far behind" (Lantschner, 2008, p. 461).…”

“…Common explanations for this paradox attribute either the fragmented international approach to Kosovo's reconstruction, minority group reluctance to participate in Kosovo's governmental institutions, or a lack of local political will to implement these policies (Baldwin, 2006;Lantschner, 2008). These explanations, however, all take a macro perspective that overlooks where policy implementation actually happens.…”

The quest for legitimacy in independent Kosovo: the unfulfilled promise of diversity and minority rights

“…As mentioned above, many states, including members of the European Union, an important institutional advocate of minority rights in Kosovo, fail to offer the same rights to their own minorities (Johns 2003). However, it must also be noted that the minority rights provisions outlined here are characterized by a wide gap between legal obligations and implementation on the part of Kosovo authorities (Lantscher 2008). The explanations for this are complex, including Kosovo's weak institutions and generally bad governance (Capussela 2015), a lack of capacity and funds allocated to minority issues (ECMI 2010, 12-14), lack of political will among Kosovo-Albanian policy-makers and civil servants (Interviewee 1), as well as the widespread Serb boycott of Kosovar institutions in the early years following the declaration of independence.…”

International(ized) Constitutions and Peacebuilding

“…The very progressive human rights provisions in the Constitution, especially the extensive protections granted to minority groups, risk being seen as outside impositions, an impression which is strengthened by the lack of implementation. 141 The 2011 US State Department report states that during that year, ethnic minorities faced 'varied levels of institutional and societal discrimination, in areas such as employment, education, social services, language use, freedom of movement, IDPs' right to return, and other basic rights'. 142 The human rights protections in Kosovo, and particular protection of minority rights, raise a kind of chicken -egg dilemma about whether these legal guarantees can help foster an environment of respect, or whether genuine will to respect human rights is required before legal guarantees will be of any use.…”